


silva in lumine, lunae arcana est

by ThinkingCAPSLOCK



Series: NoctLuna Week [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 05:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11960862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThinkingCAPSLOCK/pseuds/ThinkingCAPSLOCK
Summary: She imagines the sky shines just for them.-Day 3 of NoctLuna Week - "Lake Date"





	silva in lumine, lunae arcana est

**Author's Note:**

> [based on the piano collection cover](http://s.pacn.ws/640/s2/final-fantasy-xv-piano-collections-505105.2.jpg) which is gorgeous

A hand falls on her shoulder. Lunafreya glances to the side, wineglass balanced between her fingers. She knows who it is - from the curve of his hand, from the way he hesitates to rest it on her bare shoulder, from the way he shuffles his feet. Noctis has not changed his posture, nor improved his skills at social engagement much since they saved the world. His suits fit better, his bearings a bit more mature, but underneath it all he's still the same boy. She doesn't mind. It's what makes him so endearing, so easy to love.

It's why she still wants to marry him. 

She expects him to complain, to comment on the food, to remark how bored he is or how tired, but he does not speak. Instead, he catches her eye, and glances over his shoulder. Lunafreya follows his gaze, past the groups of party-goers, past the ballroom floor, to the large glass doors leading to one of the property's many gardens, propped open by two very familiar looking men in Kingsglaive uniforms. 

"I have something to show you." His voice is a whisper in her ear. "Will you come with me?"

Abandoning a party is not usually in her repertoire, especially one that's honouring her. She hasn't gotten the chance to dance yet, and the band is quite good, soothing, the strings and notes caressing the air around them. And yet, Noctis asks with that confident, mischievous smile of his, the one that hits his blue-grey eyes and makes them dance in the light. He rolls on the balls of his feet, excitement bubbling over (or bubbling as much as it can, as Noctis is not prone to explosions of emotions). For that matter, excitement is not an emotion one usually sees in Noctis after the sun sets. 

Whatever he wants to show her must be important, and the answer tumbles out of her lips. "I will." 

The smile shifts, softening his eyes, his posture. It's a look he's only ever given her. It lasts only a second - and then he takes her hand, guiding her across the room. They nod to the other guests, Lunafreya sliding her wineglass onto a table they pass, but no one stops them or interrupts. She can only guess what the rumours will be, with them slipping out none too subtly. Her smile is rueful, resigned, and she shakes her head, even as they pass by Prompto (grinning) and Gladiolus (winking) and step out of the mansion. 

The grounds are quite large, if different than the Citadel - more of a summer getaway, if said getaway was larger than most castles. The gardens are dark, yet still rich in colour, bathed in the light of the ballroom behind them. It's spring, and the world knows it so, the life trapped for months under the snow eager to burst out. Lush green leaves cushion dark red flowers, petals streaked with the sunset long gone. White dewdrops frame the pathways, the silvery buds of the lilacs pushing through, scenting the air. 

However much she's intrigued, Lunafreya does not linger. Noctis keeps a steady pace ahead of her, hand around hers. She'd like to return tomorrow to view the garden in the light - with a coat. Spring it may be, but the night is dark, and chill, and being in a sleeveless dress and strapped, short heels is not quite the attire for an evening in the air. Goosebumps break out on her arms as they approach the edge of the gardens. Noctis drops her hand, and, with a bit of effort and the sound of rusted metal screeching, jimmies open a small iron gate set into the fence. Beyond it stretches wild forests, darkness, the dappling moonlight between leaves.

"It's not much farther," Noctis says, glancing back at her. He pauses, double takes, and blinks. "You're cold."

"Chilled," she corrects. "I'll be alright."

The answer doesn't sit well with him, and his frown is full of hints of anger - likely at himself. He leans against the gate, undoing the buttons of his suit jacket, muttering something just under his breath. She watches, curious, until he shrugs it off and rights himself. Two steps back towards her, and he drapes the jacket over her shoulders, tugging it into place, lifting her one hand up to hold the lapel. The night air dissipates around her, cut by Noctis' warmth: from his hand on hers, from the suit jacket, from the concern, the relief, in his eyes.

They continue.

The forest doesn't have a path, and the darkness makes it difficult, yet not impossible, to travel. At first Noctis attempts to steady her as they continue, but Lunafreya is more than adept at walking in heels on various terrain, and he withdraws to simply holding her hand for the sake of holding it. The ground is solid, twigs snapping under their feet, a wind rustling above their heads. Behind her, the music wafts, barely audible. Ahead, another sound, familiar and welcome. The lapping of waves against a stone shore. 

She had not seen any body of water on her arrival, had not, for a moment, suspected its presence here. She should have guessed the Caelum family would not be far from a chance to fish, and as they get closer, as the forest slopes downwards, she wonders if that's why Noctis brought her out here. She tugs the jacket closer around her neck, Noctis lowering her hand in order to push aside the shrubbery. He nods her forwards, ahead of him, and she picks her way over roots and dead leaves to emerge on the shoreline.

It's beautiful. 

The lake is dark, almost black in its blueness. The surface is rippled in the breeze, a gentle, rhythmic pattern, matching the waves. Cattails and tall grass line the rocky shores, moss clinging and staining the grey with rich greens and reds. Above, the moon, her namesake, sits full and low to the horizon, its white trail a slender path on the dark of the water. She feels as if she could step on it, cross the world itself. Stars twinkle, their own light mixing with the moon and water, with the heavens above. And, though the sight is endless, universal, she imagines the sky shines just for them.

She turns back to Noctis, who seems to have been watching her, and as he's caught in the act he quickly whips his head to the view. He shifts on his feet, hands stuffed deep into his pockets. By the twitch of his mouth, there's something he wants to say, but can't yet bring himself to say it. He has never been good at words - nor feelings. It is hard for him to trust, to express, even to her. He worries, and those worries weigh at him, even now. Lunafreya does not push him, does not force, as she links their arms together, as she rests her head against his shoulder. She waits for him to be ready, eyes focused on the moonbeams, the wind, the world.

"Being here makes me think of you," he says, his voice soft like the lapping water. "Especially on a night like this. It makes me feel... a lot of things. Like the world is so vast that whatever I do, whatever I've done, doesn't matter. But then I see the moon, and the light, and the waters, and I think of you trying all the same. It makes me want to try, too. We might have been engaged for politics, Luna, but I..." he falters, the words stumbling, a rock tumbling into the lake and making ripples of its own. "I want to marry you because of everything you are, not because of a treaty or a promise. And I don't want you to marry me unless it's what you want, too." 

He looks at her, now: his profile framed in the sharp moonlight, stark against his dark suit and hair. The weight of a kingdom rests on his shoulders, the same that rests on her own, but in the light of the night, together, it seems bearable. She traces the angle of his face, the line of his jaw, fingers brushing his bangs, the light gracing them both, enshrining them, connecting them.

There is no one else she'd rather be with.

"I want to," she says, her voice steady and calm, another ripple on the moonlight. Noctis flashes that smile again, leaning against her hand, her touch, before they both turn back to the lake. Soon, she knows, they will have to return, back to their responsibilities. But for now the beauty of the night claims them, the simplicity of the moon, rising overhead, the movement of the water, deep and eternal. It's a gift, a blessing, one Noctis has given her, one that, like the smile he still wears, is for her and her alone.


End file.
